Lasting-machine.



W. J. KELLY.

LASTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 1. m5;

Patented Jan. 30, 1917.

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W. J. KELLY.

LASTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 1. 1915.

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WILLIAM J. KELLY, 0F READING, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGN'OR TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY COMPANY, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CDRPGRATION OF NEW JERSEY.

LASTING-MACHIN E.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 3%), 1917-.

Application filed April 1, 1915. Serial No. 18,540.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM; J. KELLY, acitizen of the United States, residing at Reading, in the county of Berks and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain improvements in Lasting-Machines, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to machines for use in the manufacture of boots and shoes and is herein shown as embodied in a machine which is particularly intended for use in lasting.

The machine in which by way of illustration the invention is shown as embodied is of the general type first disclosed and claimed in United States Letters Patent No. 1,117 ,087 to A. H. Prenzel, granted November 10, 191%, for improvements in machines for lasting boots and shoes, and is intended for use in lasting shoes and securing the uppers in lasted position by fastenings which both serve this purpose and also remain in the shoe as permanent means for securing the upper to the sole.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved lasting machine which, without interference with its lasting functions, will effect a more secure fastening of the upper to the sole.

Another object of the invention is to provide a machine by which an improved lasting result may be obtained and by which the upper may be easily and permanently secured exactly in lasted position.

With the foregoing and other objects in view the invention aims to provide a lasting machine which can be operated either in the ordinary manner of operation of such machines, or at the will of the operator can be caused to produce a lasted shoe having some or all parts of the upper secured in lasted position not only by the usual means employed in such machines, but by other means cooperating with said usual means.

More particularly the invention aims to provide a staple lasting machine by which the astening of the upper in lasted position by staples is reinforced by means of a cord, wire or similar material over which or through which the staples are driven in such relation to the cord as to insure that the heads of the staples do not pull through the upper, and to provide a machine which will so control the application of this cord, Wire or other material that it can be utilized not only to reinforce the holding power of the staple fastening, but itself to serve as means for securing the upper in lasted position between successive staples. It is to be understood, however, that although the present invention is herein shown and described with particular reference to a staple lasting machine especially intended and adapted for use in the manufacture of stitch-down shoes, it is not intended to limit the invention thereby, since, for example, staple lasting has many advantages for fastening an upper in lasted position in the manufacture of welted footwear, a staple lasting machine especially designed to be used in the manufacture of welted footwear being shown and described in United States Letters Patent No. 1,163,599, granted December 7, 1915, on an application of James Cavanagh.

Important features of the invention are the provision of a novel lasting tool through which the two kinds of fastening means are guided into proper position to secure the upper in lasted position, the provision of means for controlling the cord, wire or similar auxiliary securing means during the upper wiping and stretching operations, that this means may be brought into proper securing relation to the upper, and the provision of novel means for controlling the auxiliary fastening material as it comes from the source of supply.

Other features and important objects of the invention will appear from the following description and claims when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which,-

Figure l is a front elevation of the upper part of a machine embodying the invention; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the spool holding. shaft and the means for frictionally retarding its rotation; Fig. 3 is a perspective detail, partly in section, illustrating the takeup mechanism upon the spool holding shaft, the construction of the lasting tool, the take up device adjacent to the lasting tool, and the course of the cord from the spool to the lasting mechanism; Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the toe end of a shoe lasted upon this machine; and Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the machine.

The machine in which the invention is shown as incorporated is of the type more fully illustrated and described in the copending application of Matthias Brock, Serial No. 17,182, filed March 26, 1915, and to this co-pending application reference may be had for a more detailed description of the parts herein illustrated but not fully described. The illustrated machine, like the machine of said co-pending application, comprises mechanism for forming and inserting staples, the staple'forming mechanism being substantially identical with that disclosed in United States Letters Patent to l/V. I-I. Borden, No. 1,016,930, February 13, 1913. Like the machine shown in the Letters Patent to W. H. Borden, the illustrated machine comprises a driver bar 16 elevated against the action of a spring 20 by a lifting cam 11 acting upon a block 14 upon said driver bar, and a wire feeding mechanism comprising a feed roll 90 operated by connections to a slotted lever 100, more fully described in said Letters Patent to W. H. Borden, said slotted lever being in turn rocked by a second lever 106 connected to a cam disk, not shown. The wire WV from which the staples are formed is led from a spool 152, carried upon a bracket 156, over a tension device, comprising a grooved wheel 158, to the feeding mechanism, said feeding mechanism, as in the machine shown and described in the co-pending application of M. Brock, comprising a presser roll 142 carried upon a lever 140 fulcrumed at 146 upon the machine head and acted upon by a spring 145 to hold said presser roll 142 yieldingly in operative relation to said feed roll 90. Like the machine shown in said copending application of M. Brock, the illustrated machine comprises a work support 196 having an inclined work supporting face 192, said work support being movable toward and away from the lasting tool 198, which differs somewhat in its construction from the lasting tool shown in said co-pending application. Mechanism like that shown in said co-pending application is provided for effecting the relative lasting movement of the work support and the lasting tool and for actuating the mechanism for forming and inserting staples, said mechanism comprising a treadle 186 connected by a link 184 to alever 180, the forward end of which engages the lower end of the work support raising rod 166, and a second treadle 228 connected by a link 230 to the starting and stopping mechanism.

When operating upon certain kinds of work, and particularly when operating upon patent leather which has been bark tanned, difficulty has sometimes been experienced, owing to the softness of the leather, in the securing of the upper in lasted position, the staples, which in ordinary work are very eflicient as holding means, sometimes pulling through material of this kind. In order to prevent the staples from pulling through, and at the same, time to provide improved means for securing the upper in lasted position, the present invention contemplates so locating a cord or similar material upon the part to be secured that the staple will straddle or pass through this cord during the staple inserting operation and will press the cord tightly against the part of the upper to be secured in lasted position, the cord thus serving both to prevent the staple from pulling through the upper and as means for securing the upper in lasted position.

In the illustrated machine, the lasting tool 193 is made as usual in two parts 200 and 202 and has the guide 204 for the driver 206 preferably formed in the part 202, whereby the part 200 may be reduced to a thin edge forming the vertex of a sharply acute angle so as to bring the line of insertion of the staple as close as possible to the wiping face of said lasting tool. In accordance with the present invention a guideway 208 for the cord 0 is formed preferably in the part 202, this guideway being inclined so that it cuts the lower edge 210 of the tool 193 slightly to the left of the guideway 204, whereby the guideway 208 is enlarged at its opening in the end of the tool so that the cord may be drawn back into the position shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings without interfering with the operation of the driver when it is desired to use staples alone as fastening means. The guideway 208 is also slightly inclined to the plane of junction of the two parts 200, 202 whereby it tends to guide the cord diagonally across the guideway 204, and thus cause the staples to straddle the cord in the manner shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

The cord C, which may be of any suitable size and quality, ordinary shoe thread serving very well for this purpose, is led to the guideway 208 from a spool 212 over a guide wheel 214 and through the loop 216 of a take-up 218, clamped upon the machine head by a screw 220. It will be noted that the take-up 218 comprises a coiled spring 222- which tends to hold the loop 216 at the uppermost limit of its movement. The purpose of this take-up will be explained more fully hereinafter.

The spool 212 is received upon a shaft 224 carried in a bearing 226 in the bracket 156, said shaft being provided with collars 228 and 230 at the respective ends of said bearing 226 which tend to confine said shaft against endwise movement in said bearing. To prevent the shaft 224 from turning too easily, means is provided for frictionally retarding the turning movement of said shaft, said means comprising a piece of fiber or other friction material 232 pressed against the end of said shaft by a screw 234 threaded through a bracket 236 and held in its position of adjustment by a lock nut 238. To prevent slackness in the cord C as it is unwound from said spool, and also to provide a proper tension upon said cord, a take-up mechanism is provided between the spool 212 and the shaft 224, said mechanism comprising a disk 240 provided with sharp pointed pins 242 which enter said spool and cause said disk to turn with the spool as the cord is unwound from said spool, said disk having a lost motion connection with the shaft 224, comprising a slot 244 in said disk into which projects a pin 246 upon the shaft. A coiled spring 248, surrounding said shaft 224, is connected at one end to the collar 228 upon said shaft and at its other end to the disk 240. The spring 248 tends to turn the disk 240 upon the shaft 224 until the pin 246 moves to the other end of the slot 244 from that in which it is shown in Fig. 3. The friction upon the shaft 224 is preferably such that when the cord is unwound from the spool the spool will be turned against the tension of the spring 248 until the disk 240 is in the position shown in Fig. 3, when further turning of the spool will cause the shaft 224 to be turned with the spool. At the end of the unwinding operation any slackness in the cord C caused by a change in the position of the work, or from unwinding more cord than was needed, will be taken up by the action of the spring 248 which tends to turn the disk 240 in a direction to wind up the cord. When it is desired to drive staples without using the cord to reinforce the fastening of the upper, the end of the cord may be drawn back toward the left, as shown in Fig. 1, and secured in a clip 250 upon the machine frame.

In lasting shoes with the machine herein described the operator places the sole of the shoe upon the inclined work supporting face 192 of the work support 196 and then effects the movement of said work support toward the lasting tool 193 by depressing the treadle 186 and raising the rod 166 in the manner more fully described in the copending application of M. Brock, hereinabove identified. After having secured the desired stretching and wiping result the operator actuates the staple forming and inserting mechanism by depressing the treadle 228 in the manner described in said copending application. If the securing of the upper in lasted position is to be effected also by means of the auxiliary fastening cord, in addition to the staples constituting in the illustrated machine the primary fastening means, before eifecting the relative lasting movement of the work support 196 and lasting tool 193 the operator grasps the free end of the cord and leads it toward the right in Fig. 1 so that it will lie across the line of insertion of the staple, and then effects the lasting operation and actuates the staple forming and inserting mechanism, thus causing the cord to be secured by means of the staple. As the Work support 196 is lowered to permit the operator to bring the shoe into position for the next lasting step the cord, now secured to the shoe, will be drawn down through the guideway 208. To permit this movement of the cord without unwinding more cord from the spool the take-up 218 has been provided. The strength of the coiled spring 222 is such,

with respect to the resistance to turning L of the spool 212, that this pulling down of the cord which takes place with the movement of the Work support 196 away from the lasting tool 193 will lower the loop 216 of the take-up 218 into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3. As the operator moves the shoe along over the work support to bring it into position for the next lasting step the pull upon the cord will cause some cord to be unwound from the spool 212, the whole cord being kept under tension by the action of the take-up between the spool 212 and the shaft 224. The shoe having been positioned for the next lasting step the operator again moves the work support 196 toward the lasting tool 193, and as this movement takes place the take-up 218 draws the cord up through the guide 208, thus preventing any looping of the cord between the point where it has first been secured and the point where the next securing operation is to take place.

It will be noted from an inspection of Figs. 3 and 4 that, while the staples are driven so that their crowns or heads lie substantially in line, the cord passes through the staples from one side to the other in a sinuous line, whereby the staples straddle the cord, thus effectively securing it and at the same time keeping it in such position that it serves most effectively to prevent the staples from being pulled through the upper. of the cord for reinforcing the staple fastening of the upper to the sole, and its utilization as supplemental or auxiliary fastening means, in no way interferes with the lasting of the shoes and the location of the lasting fastenings in position to secure the upper most effectively in lasted position and at the same time to be out of the way of the succeeding fastenings, whereby they may be left in the shoe as a part of the means for permanently securing the upper to the sole.

It will further be noted that the cord may be used at the will of the operator, and that he may either last the shoe in the manner shown in Fig.4, by performing successive steps from one side around to the other, leading the cord from one securing position to It will thus be seen that the utilization the next, or he may perform the lasting step upon one side of the shoe, using the cord to reinforce the holding power of the staple or staples and may then pass to the other side of the shoe, either stretching the cord around the shoe or severing it and starting over again upon the other side. By drawing the cord back into the position shown in Fig. 1, in which position it occupies that part of the end of the guideway 208 which lies to the left of the driver passage 204:, the operator can dispense with the use of the cord and operate the machine for staple lasting in the usual manner.

In the drawings the staples are shown in every instance as straddling the cord. This is the preferred mode of driving the staples, and the machine is preferably constructed to guide the cord into position so that the staples will usually straddle the cord. It will be understood, however, that the invention is not restricted to securing the cord in exactly the manner herein shown, since it is obvious that any mode of inserting staples or other fastenings which will bring them into position effectively to secure the cord will subserve the purposes of the invention.

In the specification and in some of the claims the auxiliary fastening means is referred to as a cord. It will be understood, however, that this term is used only for convenience and that any suitable auxiliary fastening means having any one or all of the characteristics of a cord is intended to be included within the scope of this term.

It will be noted that in lasting shoes by the improved machine of this invention there is practised a novel process which is not herein claimed but is made the subject matter of a copending application Serial No. 19,l90 filed April 6, 1915.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. In a machine of the class described, in

combination, means for forcing successive portions of the angle of an upper into lasted relation to a sole, means for inserting fastenings in the angle of the upper to secure the upper in lasted position, and means for guiding auxiliary upper fastening means into position to be secured in said angle by said fastenings. :2. In a machine of the class described, in combination, means for forcing successive portions of an upper into lasted relation to a sole, means for forcing a cord into upper securing position, and means for inserting upper securing fastenings in such relation to the cord as to prevent the heads of the fastenings from pulling through the upper, said means including a tool over the upper engaging end of which the cord is laid.

3. In a machine of the class described,

a lasting tool, and a work support relatively movable to effect an upper stretching and wiping operation to force the angle of the upper into lasted position, means for inserting fastenings in the angle of the upper to secure the upper in lasted position, and means for guiding auxiliary fastening means into upper securing position in said angle.

l. In a machine of the class described, the combination with a lasting tool and a work support, normally in separated relation, and means for effecting a relative movement'of approach of said tool and said support to cause said tool to effect a lasting operation, of means for guiding a 0011- tinuous upper fastening means through said tool into upper fastening position, and a take-up operating upon said fastening means during the relative movements of said tool and said work support.

5. In a machine of the class described, a lasting tool and a work support relatively movable to effect a lasting operation, and means for guiding a fastening into position to secure the upper in lasted condition constructed and arranged to guide auxiliary fastening means into position to be secured by said first-mentioned fastening means.

6. In a machine of the class described, a lasting tool and a work support relatively movable to effect a lasting operation, means for guiding a primary fastening through said lasting tool and inserting said fastening in the upper to secure the upper in the lasted position to which it is brought by the relative movement of said tool and support, and means for guiding auxiliary fastening means into position to cooperate in the upper securing operation.

7. In a machine of the class described, a lasting tool and a work support relatively movable to effect a lasting operation, said lasting tool being provided with a guide through which a fastening may be guided into position to secure the upper in the lasted position to which it is brought by the relative movement of said tool and said support, and said tool being also provided with another guide through which auxiliary fastening means may be guided into position to cooperate in the upper securing operation.

8. In a machine of the class described, a lasting tool and a work support relatively movable to effect a lasting operation, said tool being provided with a staple guide arranged to guide a staple into position to secure said upper in the lasted position to which it is brought by the relative movement of said toolv and support, said tool being also provided with a guide through which a cord may be led into position to co operate with the staple in securing the upper.

9. In a machine of the class described, a lasting tool and a work support relatively movable to effect a lasting operation, said tool -being provided with a guide through which a cordmay be led into position to secure the upper in the lasted position to which it is brought by the relative movement of said tool and support, and a take-up for keeping the cord taut during the relative movements of said tool and support.

10. In a machine of the class described, a lasting tool and a work support relatively movable to effect a lasting operation, said tool being provided with a guide arranged to guide a fastening into position to secure the upper in the lasted position to which it is brought by said relative movement of said tool and said support, said tool being also provided with a guide for leading a cord into position to cooperate with said fastening in the upper securing operation, a spool. for said cord, and take-up means operating upon said spool.

11. In a machine of the class described, a lasting tool and a work support relatively movable to effect a lasting operation, said tool being provided with a guide arranged to guide a fastening into position to secure the upper in the lasted position to which it is brought by said relative movement of said tool and said support, said tool being also provided with a guide for leading a cord into position to cooperate with said fastening in the upper securing operation, a spool for said cord, take-up means operating upon said spool, and a second take-up operating upon the cord in immediate proximity to said lasting tool.

12. In a lasting machine, a lasting tool having an upper engaging end and having formed therein a fastening guide and a guide for a cord, said cord guide being arranged to lead the cord over the upper engaging end of the lasting tool into said fastening guide.

13. In a machine of the class described, a lasting tool having formed therein a staple guide and having formed therein a guide for a cord, or the like, arranged to lead said cord into the staple guide in a line oblique to the plane of the staple guide.

1%. In a machine of the class described, a lasting tool having formed therein a staple guide, and having formed therein a guide for a cord, or the like, said cord guide being arranged to lead said cord into the staple guide in a line oblique to the plane of said guide and also oblique to the longitudinal dimension of said guide.

15. In a lasting machine, a lasting tool having an upper engaging end and an upper wiping face, having formed therein a fastening guide arranged to deliver a fastening substantially at the line of intersection of said face and said end, and having formed therein a guide for a cord, said cord guide being arranged to lead said cord into the fastening guide substantially at its delivery end.

16. In a machine of the class described, a lasting tool having formed therein a fastening guide in which a fastening driver may operate, and having formed therein a guide for a cord arranged to lead said cord into the fastening guide, said cord guide so intersecting said fastening guide at the delivery end as to provide an enlargement of the guide for the cord upon one side of said delivery end into which the cord may be drawn out of the way of the driver when not to be utilized in the lasting operation.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

WILLIAM J KELLY.

Gepiea of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G. 

